A Master of Djinn Quotes

“Rich people always have enemies. Usually, that’s how they became rich.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Why is everyone so slavish to texts written thousands of years ago?” he snapped. “Gods can change. Grow apart. Try new things. Besides, Set was a jerk.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“You! You can’t just walk in here! This is a crime scene!” “That would explain the dead bodies, then,” she replied. He blinked dumbly, and she sighed. Wasting good sarcasm was annoying.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“No one who lives here is stupid or gullible. They’re just tired of the exploitation. Tired of being ignored. Desperate ears will listen to anyone offering up others to blame.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“I don’t have sad tales to tell you. I’m not some tragic character from a story, lost between two worlds. I revel in who I am. What I am.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Usually the secrets we keep deep down, ain’t meant to hurt other people,” he said. “Not saying they won’t, but not through intentions. Those deep secrets, we hide away because we’re afraid what other people might think. How they might judge us, if they knew. And nobody’s judgment we scared of more than the one we give our hearts to. Besides, everybody got secrets. Even you, I’m betting.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“why are we going to the basement?” “Because that’s where the library is located.” “Right. And we’re going to the library because…?” Fatma fixed her best blank look. “Because it has all the books.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“His eyes took on a storyteller’s twinkle, and Fatma sighed. This was going to take a while.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Ask me how many people, right here in Cairo, have blood sugar sickness,” he said. Fatma blinked. “I don’t—” “No, go ahead. Ask me.” “How many people in Cairo have blood sugar sickness?” “Ya Allah! I have no idea! I’m terrible with numbers!”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“If you steal, steal a camel, she heard her mother whisper. And if you love, love the moon.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Why do these colonizers always claim what isn’t theirs?”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“And among His wonders is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the diversity of your tongues and colors. For in this, behold, there are messages indeed for all who are possessed of innate knowledge.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“And nobody’s judgment we scared of more than the one we give our hearts to.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Fatma blinked at the tirade. Of all the djinn these two had to go and wake up, it had to be a bigot.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“The world sits at a precipice. Our ability to create has exceeded our ability to understand.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Men, Fatma decided for perhaps the hundredth time, were so strange.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Might I ask, what, ah, temple you belong to?” “Hathor,” Siti answered. “But I’m more partial to Sekhmet.” “Sekhmet. In theological alchemy we studied ancient and Hellenistic Egypt. If I recall, she’s a goddess of battle?” “The Eye of Ra. When humankind sought to overthrow Ra, his daughter Hathor didn’t take too kindly. In her anger, she became Sekhmet—the fiery lioness. Then broke some things.” Hadia frowned. “Didn’t she almost wipe out the world?” “The goddess really gets into her work.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“You! You can’t just walk in here! This is a crime scene!” “That would explain the dead bodies, then,”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“They threw around words like “post Neo-Pharaonic” and “epistemologies of alchemic modernity,” eyes veiled behind dark glasses and lips pulling leisurely at thin cigarettes—perhaps meant to show their defiance to the panic gripping the city. Or they were just being weird. Good for them either way, Fatma decided.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Even a rich man must sometimes eat with beggars.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“The three of them sat there - A Ministry agent, a half-djinn, and a cat (likely), staring out past the balcony to the sleeping city they somehow had to find a way to save.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“A fool’s heart is forever at the tip of his tongue,”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Our ability to create has exceeded our ability to understand.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Eat your enemy for lunch, before he can eat you for dinner.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Just, whatever you do, don’t let her speak to you in Arabic.” “She speaks Arabic?” Fatma asked. “Not at all. Only she doesn’t seem to know that.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“I hope I’m not signing away my free will or fondest memories,” Hadia muttered. “Oh no,” Azmuri replied. “Those forms are much longer.” Hadia stopped her signing midway at the remark, before seeing the smirk on the djinn’s lips. A joke. At least, Fatma hoped so. When they’d finished, Azmuri dismissed the man and turned back to them.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Angels were notorious for their bureaucracy. They required every little thing be recorded, signed, stamped, and reviewed—often in triplicate.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“The laboratory had taken damage during the attack, as rampaging ghuls smashed instruments and overturned tables. They were beaten back by Dr. Hoda, who whipped up an alchemical concoction that melted the undead to soupy puddles. You just didn’t mess with her lab.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Khalid had come up with that name, Shadia. The big man was her guide into this seedier side of Cairo, where Fatma el-Sha’arawi, special investigator with the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, would draw unwanted attention.”
― P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

“Benny was from America, like most musicians at the Jasmine–a place called New Orleans. Cairo brought in people from all over. Some looking for work or drawn by stories of mechanical wonders and djinn. Benny and the others had come fleeing a thing called Jim Crow. They brought with them their hopes, their dreams, and their fantastic music.”
― P. Djèlí Clark , A Master of Djinn